After Christmas Organization

After Christmas there can be a lot of extra cleaning up to do, as well as things requiring sorting and re-organizing. After Christmas Organization is the focus of the latest video posted on over at the Household Logistics Youtube Channel.

In the video I share the post-Christmas clean up that occurred recently in our household, and various ways that Christmas decor are stored after being put out for the festive season.

Everyone loves budget-friendly ideas, so if you would like to know what we have found both useful and budget-friendly, go on over and check out this latest video. Here is the link: After Christmas Organization

Happy home-making, Everyone!

Compiling a Clothing Inventory: Update

It really has been very timely over the past few days to begin to do an audit of each family member's clothing needs, for the coming winter season.

Taking stock of what are each family member's clothing needs, via a Clothing Inventory List, is proving to be an extremely effective way to get on paper what each person does have, and what items need mending or in fact purchasing.

Compiling a Clothing Inventory List has enabled my daughter and I to quickly see just how many individual items are onhand for her this coming winter season. Plus it has clearly helped us determine what would be best to next purchase on the clothing front; for instance, a jacket, a pair of sneakers in a larger size, as well as several new pairs of socks!

Being able to shop and/or make clothing, according to what an actual inventory shows is needed, has already proven to be a very helpful these past few days. It has been a simple yet effective way to determine what money really should be outlaid on clothing currently.

When you are a one income family with a fixed income like ours is, there just isn't money available to be frivolous and carry out impulsive, on-a-whim purchasing. Purchasing items with little thought for what is actually needed, is just not budget-friendly, end of story. 

When it comes to how many shoes any one family members wants to have, or how many variations of any one garment is desired, there simply isn't money available to splurge on whatever fancy and impulsive purchase someone in our family wants to buy next. 

Sure, it is nice to have one or two favourite and special items if you can, but overall 'need' takes precedence over just 'wanting' something. Having a rainbow collection of any one garment just for the sake of having it, isn't financially wise or feasible to indulge in when finances are limited.

A Clothing Inventory is a clear and purposeful means for me to determine what is an ideal number of shirts or skirts or socks (or any other clothing item for that matter) for any one family member. I can literally see on paper, via the list, what is present currently and what is to yet be acquired. Yay!

I believe quality rather quantity is good to keep in mind also, when considering purchasing wardrobe items. Depending on what the item is used for, be it a sport's uniform, a warm winter raincoat, or a week's supply of socks..... I endeavour to shop as wisely as I can.

Different inventories are definitely going to be required for different family members, according age and stage of life, as well as what activities each person may be involved in, on the sports and leisure front also.

A newborn, a toddler, and likewise a child who attends school daily in a regulation uniform, will all have different clothing needs and therefore different components listed as part of their specific clothing inventory.

When we compile such inventories, we really need to be mindful of who they are for and plan the inventory accordingly. It is not possible to always apply a one-size-fits-all mentality when formulating any one clothing inventory.

Health needs and other significant factors can sometimes play a factor in determining the most ideal quantities required of specific garments and items, when putting together a clothing inventory.

If a young child is currently toilet training, they may well need a greater number of specific clothing items, compared to a child who is fully toilet trained. When it comes to determining the items required, and the quantities of each required, this will definitely need to be considered case by case, family member by specific family member.

For those that work outside the home, there will be certain clothing items required, particularly if their workplace has a dress code. I know there  will be some significant requirements  when it comes to compiling the inventory list for my husband, who works in a professional office setting.

There will be items each family member needs for their down-time at home. There will be particular items required for taking part in their various specific leisure or sporting activities, etc.

Each and every clothing inventory I am gradually getting around to formulating has and will continue to be unique in its formulation. 

Having worked through the clothing inventory list yesterday with my daughter, for her current requirements, it came to our attention that she required some updates as well as some additional items added to her current winter wardrobe.

We have yet to go jacket shopping and to also get a new pair of sneakers, but already some items like several pairs of new socks in a larger size have been purchased and will now all be onhand for her to use.

I am definitely finding using a clothing inventory list to be a useful means of meeting my family's needs. I highly recommend compiling an inventory of clothing for each member of your family. It is proving to be budget-friendly and an effective tool to have onhand.

The 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge: It Is All Go!

Are you wondering how to go about a Spring Clean? Are you frustrated & tired of seeing too much clutter around the place and want to really do a serious declutter that will potentially make a significant difference on a number of levels for you & your family?  

If you are ready to do some serious decluttering, then join us for the 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge that is happening here at Household Logistics!

I am currently up to Day 8 of the 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge, however you can join in anytime. There is a list of suggestions over on the Household Logistics Facebook Page to help you approach this challenge, so why not go on over and check the list out.

My 40/40 Challenge focus today is on Tools. After a number of projects lately on the homefront and in the garden, the tool situation is... well, quite honestly a big messy jumble! It is time for a sort, purge & re-organization for sure!

The 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge typically happens for a number of people during the season of Lent, but you can actually do it any time of year. Why not jump on in and start now?

For 40 days, you commit to decluttering one bagful of items from your home each day. Sometimes it may work out that you do more bags one day, and not so many the next, and that is okay! However you approach the challenge of decluttering 40 bags of items, after 40 days you will have achieved a serious declutter for sure.

Does this sound like just the challenge for you? Do you feel like joining in with a group of others also taking up the challenge? Join in & participate along with others who are taking up this challenge, over the next little while! 

Daily updates about the challenge are being shared over at the Household Logistics Facebook Page.

Here is the link to the Household Logistics Facebook Page: /https://www.facebook.com/householdlogistics/

Let's encourage & inspire each other as we take up & complete the challenge of 40 Bags in 40 Days!

Cupboard Makeover

As much as you can try to keep everything in its place, it doesn't always work out that way, does it? It can just take a couple of loads of laundry, or shoes or bags, etc not getting put away in their rightful places, and before you know it chaos has crept into household linen and storage cupboards.

The hot water cupboard in our neck-of-the-woods required some TLC and I finally got around to sorting it out. The shelves were full to over-flowing with several loads of laundry that had not been re-homed. Scattered shoes, raincoats, surplus bags... had all helped this cupboard quickly become a jumbled mess.

Perhaps one day it might be fun to do a fast forward type of video to document the process taken to restore areas such as this one. A video where you get to see things going from a muddled, jumbled chaotic mess to blissful, delightful order in what appears to be a blink of an eye... with  all the sorting and re-ordering being achieved with lightening speed before your eyes! It will be something I will quiet consider looking at perhaps doing at a later point in time, as there is sure to be another area or cupboard needing attention also!

However,  I will share the transformation achieved on this occasion by sharing photographs instead. It is quite satisfying to see a "Before" photograph and an "After" photograph when a task like this is done. It is really does make it clear just what was achieved. 

I plan to get more of the white Sistema brand containers for this cupboard, so things can be stored in them. It will help with the sorting of laundry and it will eliminate the overall visual clutter in the cupboard.

I will look at doing an update once I have got the extra containers. In the meantime, I am sure you will agree that it looks a lot better already. 

What do you find helpful to keep laundry cupboards & linen storage areas orderly? I would be interested to hear your ideas about what you have found works well for you and your household. Leave a comment & share what the helpful tips that you have found effective.

Also! Feel free to also go on over & like the Household Logistics Facebook Page and catch up with the previous home organization projects that have been done. 

Here is the link to the Household Logistics Facebook Page: /https://www.facebook.com/householdlogistics/

Home Office Organization: A Sneak Peek

There is nothing like achieving something that is both pretty and functional when organizing, right? Here is a sneak peek at what is gradually being set up for the home office, here in our neck-of-the-woods.

I am aiming to create a home office that will be truly delightful to work in, as this space is used several times daily for a number of projects, including homeschooling preparation.

I will post more photographs as it all gets further sorted and organized. In the meantime, here is the little sneak peek for you to enjoy seeing the start of everything looking shipshape and being sorted!

Homeschooling

The ex-primary teacher and administrator in me can't help it, I have to source and collate resources and prepare units of work ahead.

Books, puzzles, very hands on activities are all being put aside, ready for future learning experiences.

Here is a glimpse at what I am putting together at present.

Craftroom Chaos

It's a new year and one of my goals is to definitely get on top of all the unfinished of my scrapbooking, sewing, as well as the art and craft projects that are lurking, and waiting for my undivided attention.

Yet to make some headway on attempting to finish any of those projects, I have one bigger project that has yet to be approached first: the sorting and setting up of my home office and craftroom!

What has instead become a holding zone for multiple unfinished sewing, craft and scrapbooking projects, etc has also become a popular household dumping ground, simply because it is a convenient room to pile things into.

SIGH. It is simply overwhelming, when I think of what has to occur, in order to get things back into some semblance of workable order.

The intense summer heat at present is making it literally impossible to do anything outdoors (the backyard garden is being called the Food Forest at present!), so my focus has to be on things that are indoors instead. Therefore, what has been avoided for some time, now has to be faced.

Boxes and boxes of items need to be gone through. There are piles of papers that need to sorted and filed..... and that is definitely another major job that demands attention in the not too distant future also!

So wish me luck, everyone! One box of items will be sorted, purged and organized at a time, as there is simply no other sensible way to go about it.

Those the visit us are just going to have to accept the current chaos and remember they came to visit us, rather than our worldly goods!

I will have to work on not letting panic kick in, as it is all feeling so overwhelming at present. I have pulled a lot out of the room that has been used by and large as a holding zone, and it is now scattered around the living area in numerous piles. It seems too often one has to make a mess in order to clean up a mess (it is a sad reality, isn't it?).

I loathe living with visual chaos and things out of order, and at present the balance has so clearly tipped in the favor of it being declared nothing other than orderly disorder (and that is me endeavoring to give myself some measure of encouragement about the overall look of things on the home-front today).

Some music or a movie, plus some yummy edible treats may soon be required to help the old motivation stay at hand and at the ready....SIGH.

Breathe. Simply breathe, will have to be a motto embraced as I work my way through bringing order back.

So here are a few photographs of today's attempt to bring some measure of chaos back to order.....

This is the contents of one of many boxes of that have been stored away, out of sight..... a tangled mass of delicious sewing and craft materials! Once it is in order, imagine the fun that will be had... yet, in the meantime this is what has until now been secretly hidden away.

It is surely not all doom and gloom though, because as you can see with this open box, I have previously attempted at least to try and keep lengths of fabric in some semblance of order by creating individual bundles. There is at least some evidence of an attempt being previously made, even if it wasn't overall the best of solutions in the long term.

Still, I am sure this could look a whole lot better, plus it would be nice to see what is present straight away, rather than have to always rummage through bundles for what I am seeking!

So, this is what I have started over the last couple of days... small bolts of ribbon and lace, plus folding up bolts of fabric also. Doesn't it look SO MUCH BETTER!!

I love the fact I can now SEE what I actually have! What a change it has made already! Yes, it is still all having to be stored in a box until the furniture is all sorted out for the room, but hey! This is a far better and more workable system!

I will post up some final reveal photographs, once it is all ship-shape.

In the meantime, feel free to leave an encouraging comment, as your words of encouragement would be hugely appreciated! (No doubt it would all be good soul food, for this particular weary creative home administrator, digging her way out from under her craftroom chaos, one step at a time!) Wish me well everyone!

New Year Home Projects

Happy new year everyone! Here it is January 11th already. Where did the first part of 2016 go? Here it is almost half way through the very first month of 2016. Wow!

It feels like forever since I last blogged here, such has life been. Things have been very busy in our household, what with Christmas and all that it involves. Plus! With hubby off work and home on holiday over the last little while, there has been even more opportunity to get going on the interior painting projects and all the extra home maintenance and organization projects that needed attention.

In fact, the other day after a particularly busy and tiring day, his comment was that he was looking forward to going back to work, in order to have a bit of a holiday from being our number one painter and handyman person!

I thought I would let this blog post be something of a catch up post, to share an quick overview of some of the various home projects that have been the focus here lately. Then, at a later point I can share in greater detail about each of them, and even do some final reveal blog posts when they are fully completed.

Final reveal blog posts are always fun to see. Plus, it can be neat to see the journey taken along the way also.

But for now without further a-do, I will share with you some sneak peek photographs, so you can have a little look at what HAS been worked on, during our Christmas and summer holiday time.

So here they are, folks! Some photographs to let you have a sneak peek at some of the activity happening on the home-front at our place. You can have a little look in at what is taking place, to get us all ship shape and super sorted (hopefully) for the coming school and work year!

There has been a lot of painting occurring lately. We have become somewhat accustomed to paint pails being stacked in corners, and boxes of items being piled up and then shifted from room to room as it has been required.

The latest interior painting activities have been occurring in a child's bedroom, plus the initial pre-painting preparations have begun in the main bathroom also.

All the various stages along the way are great to see as they occur. There sometimes seems to be more time spent on the pre-painting preparations than perhaps the actual painting.

Filling in blemishes and holes takes time, doing any follow up sanding, and the washing off of leftover sanding dust all seem to take quite a considerable amount of time to do!

Preparation is of course essential to obtain a good finish, but it certainly does take some persistence and perseverance to get it done!

Seeing the still wet, first topcoat of paint is always exciting. It is a great stage to be at, because you know you are really making great progress at that point! Progress is always fantastic to see!

I have really been enjoying working on new layouts in rooms, and trialing new ways of displaying everyday household items around our home.

It can all make such a difference to how a room feels on entering it! I will enjoy sharing more about the layout changes we have been implementing in various rooms in future blog posts.

I will also really enjoy sharing more about the huge purge and sort I have been engaging in over the summer. I have some ideas in mind for my office and craftroom, which I am very excited about. Here is a sneak peek photograph of some sorting that I have been carry out lately.... there is nothing quite like seeing ribbons and laces being tamed at last!

So there you have it. Some sneak peek photographs of some of the activity occurring on the home-front here at present.

I am sure it is all going to come together soon, and we will then feel less like we are always living out of boxes. Such is life it would seem, when you are doing a reorganization and redecorating project on more or less a house-wide scale!

A new year. A new chapter. Love it.

Seeking Simplicity

It is interesting what you find you can live without, when it is all packed away and out of sight. It is proving to be an interesting discovery to find that really, how much of what we choose to squirrel away do we really require and need?

Banana boxes have worked fabulously here in our neck-of-the-woods as the means to store a range of things over the last year. From homeschooling resources right through to some inherited china collections, a huge range of items have been nestled away. Strong and robust in construction, the large cardboard boxes that bananas are often packaged in to travel from grower to retailer, have proven to be very useful. They have served us well, as progress has been made here on the home renovation front.

Having been out of sight and out of mind for quite a length of time, there is somewhat less emotional attachment to a number of our stored items. How freeing it is, to discover what you once thought you could not live without, in fact is now something that can be purged and now let go of!

What was once very necessary for a preschooler, is no longer required for a primer. The hobby that was previously an enjoyable pursuit, no longer holds such a fascination.

As I unpack, sort and make decisions about each item, I am putting things aside for a garage sale which I aptly named "The Banana Box Binge."

There are just so many boxes full of items that are no longer are needed. They now sit waiting for the day of sale we have advertised. What was once of use, perhaps even very much needed or wanted, is now being set aside to go to others who will have their turn of ownership.

Simplicity is freeing. I am enjoying experiencing it more and more, as I go through this process of unpacking, sorting and purging items from within piles of banana boxes.

As time passes and I experience a greater sense of freedom due to simplicity, I am seeking to implement simplicity even more so.

Surfaces around the home do not need to be cluttered with keepsakes. Drawers and shelves do not need to become nesting areas for multiples of items. Collections can be decreased in numbers. Limits on quantities can be brought back even further. Memories do not need to be held onto via actual physical tokens from the past.

Simplicity is very worth pursuing and seeking. Simplicity is proving to be both freeing and releasing. I recommend it.

What have you found has helped to implement more simplicity in & around your home? Feel free to share via a comment.

A Bookshelf Makeover

Here are some photographs from a recent makeover of a bookshelf I have worked on. This re-organization makeover is on a large 5 x 5 Expedit shelving unit, within a family living area.

I chose to sort and organize all the books by colour, hence you can now see something like a rainbow beginning to appear on this particular large shelving unit. Doesn't it look just so bright, cheery and welcoming!

This is still a work in progress, but I thought I would share how it is all looking so far.

You just want to grab a bean bag, and curl up for a time to enjoy reading a book for a while, don't you? It is amazing how grouping by colour can make an area that could look rather ho-hum, and even perhaps a little drab, suddenly full of light and fun!

Sometimes doing the unexpected, can have great results. It can put a little sparkle back into an area of the home that may have become just a storage area, rather than an actual area of the home that can nurture and energize.

A rainbow on a bookshelf? It looks very refreshing and appealing!

Another Linen Cupboard Makeover

I recently helped a family of five achieve their own Linen Cupboard Makeover.

I quite enjoy the experience of both thinking and working through how to meet a different set of needs and requirements, with each of these makeover projects, when I do them. This particular project was for a family of two adults and three small children.

Here are the photographs that show the transformation that occurred for their household in their Linen Cupboard.......

Before Photograph:

After Photograph:

The Details:

Time was spent de-cluttering, purging, sorting and putting a system of organisation in place that suited the requirements of this particular household. Everyone was delighted with the resulting outcome, which made it easier to both see and locate what was needed from this particular storage cupboard.

Everything was organized overall according to frequency of use, plus ease of access. Bed linen were organized according to the current season's needs also. As the seasons change, there may be some slight changes applied to the overall layout again.

Here are the Before and After photographs again, shown side by side, to illustrate once more the transformation that occurred.

It is encouraging to see how simple changes, via purging and sorting, can make a visible difference to a storage area within a home.

Have you been working on a particular storage area in your home lately?
What did you have to consider, as you made your decisions about placement and re-organization?
Leave a comment and share what you have found helpful, when it comes to storing blankets, towels, bed linen, etc.

Clutter Busters: Books

Books are wonderful things. They can be sources of information, encouragement and knowledge. From an early age, books can and do play an important role for many of us with regard to learning about the world about us. They record history, as well as wisdom past down from past generations. Plus, books can be a wonderful source of entertainment also.

Yet, the question often arises about how best to store them.

What can be done, to best organise those piles and piles of books that we can accumulate, and which can also come in a diverse range of shapes and sizes?

What can be done, in order to make their presence not just another source of visual clutter?

What can be done to endeavour to guard us against those very books simply overwhelming us, due to their presence, their numbers and their physical appearance?

There are so many various approaches that can be taken on board, when it comes to both storing and organising collections of books.

Here are two approaches that my friend in Dunedin is choosing to use, that are effective for quite distinct reasons. They are both proving to be a current positive solution for my friend and her particular household.

Making a shelf or two on a bookcase visually appealing by storing the books in groupings, according to a common colouring, is a great approach particularly for those of us that are visual people. Why not enjoy looking at something like your very own rainbow, care of your bookshelves!

This particular approach is really quite attractive to view. It really doesn't take much effort to set up, and it certainly makes it easy to determine what books go where in the future! You simply put books back in position alongside others also in that particular colouring. My friend is currently displaying books in this fashion, and it is really quite lovely to look at.

Another great way of storing books, particularly children's books, is to use a storage container as an alternative to a bookshelf. A light-weight chest or trunk can be a great means of keeping books on hand, in a bedroom or living area, without creating a lot of visual clutter.

Keeping books at child level and readily accessible, means there is also no risk of tall bookcases or shelves toppling over and on to your little one, should they decide to climb or pull at a taller piece of furniture in an attempt to get to a treasured storybook.

Storing books inside a chest, like this light-weight cane chest, allows a child of any age to enjoy being able to select a favourite book easily, rather quickly, and pretty much without the aid of an adult. I personally like the idea of being able to contain a collection of children's books within a container with a lid which helps to keep it all contained, and also for the most part out of sight.

Like most collections within the home, books can become clutter. This is predominately due to the numbers that we can over time collect and choose to hold onto. Being able to be innovative, with regard to the systems of organization that are embraced to store and house them, can help us to avoid feeling overwhelmed by clutter. These two innovative ways of organizing books are two effective clutter busting methods used within my friend's household.

Books are great. Even more so too, when they are able to be organized within our homes, in a way that serves our particular household situation well.

Feel free to share via a comment what means of storing and organizing books your household are currently using.

Kitchen Clutter Busters

A kitchen can require a number of regular de-cluttering sessions, simply because it is more often than not a place of busy activity. A kitchen can regularly need a de-clutter to keep things functioning well, because of the volume of people traffic and activity that it is subjected to. The kitchen is definitely a busy place in my neck-of-the-woods. Is it like that also at your place? Having invested quite a bit of time previously endeavouring to sort, purge and organize the kitchen area, ours has needed some attention again.

To carry out an overhaul in the kitchen, some people may choose to remove everything from every cupboard and surface, and pile it all up on the kitchen table or a similar large surface, to tackle it in one mighty swoop. However for our household that approach is simply not going to be practical. Life very much carries on, regardless of what de-cluttering, re-organising is needed! What about you? Do you find removing everything all at once works best? Or do you focus on one area in a collection of steps also?

I have to admit, it just feels less overwhelming to take on any overhaul one step at a time. Nothing is worse than finding you have created even more of a mess than you began with!

The kitchen cupboard which I tackled first, was that which contains our recipe books. Batteries, candles, matches and torches are stored there also. It is one of those cupboards that requires everything contained within it to be readily accessible, yet the actual contents are not used that regularly. I decided to embrace the fact that if there were things that were really not being regularly used, it was time to consider doing some serious purging. So eventually, a small pile of recipe books to be re-homed began to pile up on the kitchen table.

Recipe books really are resources, within the home, that can easily become actual clutter. We can live in the hope of one day trying that delicious looking recipe, and instead end up having shelf upon shelf of recipe books containing recipes that will never be baked or cooked. It was time to be very realistic and accept I was not going to make good use of them all and so they were only now, in all fairness and reality, serving as clutter. Does this sound familiar to you also? It can be so easy to be swayed by mouth-watering pictures that convince us to hold on to what simply proves to be just another dust collector and another space-filling item.

Now with so many recipes being able to be sourced online also, why keep so many actual recipe books which are all taking up precious shelf space? It was time to definitely let go of some of the recipe books, and I am pleased with the overall result. Having wiped out all the surfaces, everything smelt fresher and cleaner, there was even a sense of space, and it all looked so much better.

When it came to thinking about how to store things like candles and batteries, it really didn't take much extra thought to determine how I could tackle storing those things better in this particular cupboard also. I really like the Sistema brand of storage containers, so Sistema containers were used again here in this particular cupboard! Sistema Containers seem to be secure containers. Once the side locking pieces are securely clicked into place, you pretty much know for sure the contents are going to be kept airtight and well contained. That of course, is very handy when it comes to things like matches and even batteries. Keeping those items contained up high, and as secure as practically possible, allows you to have greater peace of mind.

Once again, I designed some labels using Picmonkey for the Sistema storage containers, and the overall look of the cupboard is now visually appealing and it is definitely sorted out much better.

It was a good start to my focus on doing a re-shuffle and clean up in the kitchen. So here are a couple of 'Before' and 'After' photographs side by side, because it is always fun to see them:

Doesn't it look so much better! It is great to now only have recipe books that we refer to. Plus, now that we have sorted and got specific containers for things like batteries and torches, it is going to be much easier to locate them any time they are required. Everything having a place and everything in it's place....Love it.

Leave a comment and share what has worked particularly well for you when organizing your recipes, as well as batteries, torches, etc.

A Linen Cupboard Makeover

I recently helped someone else achieve their own Linen Cupboard Makeover.

I enjoy the experience of thinking and working through how to meet a different set of needs and requirements, with each of these makeover projects, when I do them. This particular project was within an adult only household.

Here are the photographs that show the transformation that occurred for their household in their Linen Cupboard.......

 Before Photograph:

After Photograph:

The Details:

Time was spent de-cluttering, purging, sorting and putting a system of organisation in place that suited the requirements of this particular household. Everyone was delighted with the resulting outcome, which made it easier to both see and locate what was needed from this particular storage cupboard.

Everything was organized overall according to frequency of use, plus ease of access. Items were organized according to the current season's needs also. As the season change, there may be some slight changes applied to the overall layout again.

Here are the Before and After photographs again, shown side by side, to illustrate once more the transformation that occurred.

It is encouraging to see how simple changes, via purging and sorting, can make a visible difference to a storage area within a home.

Have you been working on a particular storage area in your home lately?
What did you have to consider, as you made your decisions about placement and re-organization?
You are welcome to leave a comment and share what you have found helpful when it comes to storing blankets, towels, bed linen, etc.

What Drives You Crazy?

I thought it would be interesting to allow people the opportunity to say what exasperates and drives them crazy when it comes to household logistics. What irks and is a pet peeve for you on the home-making front?

Let's be honest: there ARE things that irritate us and can drive us home-makers crazy, as we try to keep things orderly and in a routine in our homes. There are things that happen, and things that are done, that can simply prove to be most vexing.

Here are some things that are pet peeves for me:

Family members not putting their dirty clothes in a laundry hamper which is really not that far away. Facing piles of clothes, left on bedroom and bathroom floors, is just not a source of happy joy for me! Rather than shame anyone in particular who makes such floor piles, I will let you visualise that scenario yourself.

Another thing that somehow really manages to irk, is finding a pile of finished toilet rolls, lurking in the bathroom. This seems to occur rather regularly because someone just doesn't think to put them in the rubbish bin. I guess it is a source of irritation also, because it is often connected with finding no replacement toilet paper roll put out and present either! Surely if you use it all up, you would think to kindly replace it for the next bathroom visitor?!

Another thing that is simply gross, is finding remnants of food left in the bottom of the kitchen sink. I will spare you the experience of seeing a photograph of that! How hard can it be for ALL scraps to be either put in the kitchen compost bin or even flushed away down the kitchen waste disposer?! For some unknown reason, it sometimes appears to be just too challenging a step for some users of the kitchen.

One thing that creates exasperation on a world-wide level I am sure is.....NOT BEING ABLE TO FIND A MATCHING PAIR OF SOCKS!

Where do these little beasties disappear to?! How can it be that what went into the washing pile, and even supposedly into the washing machine together, are now so vastly separated?! Go figure!

There are just some things that occur every now and then that exasperate, drive us home-makers occasionally crazy and prove to be pet peeves, aren't there!

What occurs at your place and really grates you??

Leave a comment and share what occurs at your place to drive you crazy and is one of your particular pet peeves. You never know... someone else may well relate exactly to your exasperation also!

Storing and Organizing Children's Toys: Part #2

This the second post in a short series about how I store and organize children's toys.

In the previous post, Storing and Organizing Children's Toys: Part #1, I shared how I used to store toys in cupboards in the living area within our home.

This was a great system while the children were in the toddler and preschool stages. It kept everything on-hand throughout the day.

Now that the children are older, the system for storage of toys has changed. Toys which are no longer age appropriate has been passed on. What toys are now of interest are now stored quite differently.

Duplo and Wood Blocks have been replaced by Lego and Meccano. Both of which supply hours of fun. Simple machines and complex constructions are innovatively created and built again and again.

With all the various components these construction sets make up, (plus the related booklets), there has been a need to have several containers to keep everything easily able to be found.

All toys are now stored and organized in large tote containers. Text labels are attached on the front.

The containers are easily able to be swapped  around with others, so there is variation and interest re-ignited every so often.

The individual totes are easily able to be taken from the storage cubby within the bedroom area and moved to the chosen play area by the children themselves. Tidying up is now done quite independently also.

This system of storing and organizing toys is currently working well. I highly recommend it for older children.

What system of organizing toys do you use for your older children? What do you find is particular great about it? Please feel free to leave a comment to share what you & your household have found to be most helpful.

Storing and Organizing Children's Toys: Part #1

I thought I would share a couple of posts about how I store and organize children's toys.

There are numerous creative ways shared on the internet and depending on how many children you have, plus the age and stage they are at, your organization system can vary.

It is always great to know about another way that someone has approached organizing children's toys. So I thought why not share, via a short series of posts, what has worked for our household at various ages and stages to date, as there might just be something that is shared that may work for your household also!

It is just part of the reality of life with children, that how you store and organize toys does change and alter.

Every so often I have a purge and sort of the children's toys in order to keep what is relevant, to get rid of what is broken and no longer required, and the end result is there is often some alteration to the overall organization of it all also.

When the children were at the toddler and preschool stage, I kept everything in several cupboards within the living area. It was great having things on hand and arranged throughout the group of cupboards according to what they were.

All the building block and manipulative toys tended to be stored together, with the dress-up and role play items also all together. As best as I could I endeavoured to put like items with like items, so they were kept together.

It worked well having things that were often selected to be played with together also stored together. It made sense and things could be sourced quickly.

Most things within the cupboards were stored in clear and lidded containers (again Sistema containers proved to work well). This was a great way to both see what was in the containers, plus it helped with stacking them on top of each other. Larger items tended to go on the lower shelves and again were grouped according to the type of items they were.

Because the children were not able readers at that time, I put together labels that had both text and pictures on them. This proved to be a helpful aid for everyone, both big and little, when it came to tidying up time.

The labels worked really well and the overall uniform presentation of all the containers made everything look cohesive also.

To help with the process of tidying up time, I also posted on the inside of each cupboard door a layout guide of that particular cupboard. It helped having this to both locate items, as well as fit everything back in the actual cupboard later on also.

It worked really well having everything within a cupboard or two. It was wonderful having the ability to close the doors on the visual clutter everything created, yet have everything close at hand for those keen to play dress-ups and build a Lego building or two.

This proved to be a great set up while the children were little, as it also encouraged the children to choose wisely, as well as put away what was out before getting something else out.

This was a system that worked well for our household at that particular season and stage of life. Highly recommend it.

How are you currently storing toys within your household? What has worked well for you? How has your system of organization altered with each passing childhood stage? Feel free to leave a comment & share helpful hints on curbing toy clutter.

Overwhelmed. Again.

How is it that feeling overwhelmed about one's household logistics can come back to re-visit?

How is it that it can do so (and somewhat more doggedly), when re-visiting for another attacking round?

Being real, that is what has happened. I'm sure there are many others that would be very familiar with this experience also.

Having had the best laid plans, somehow a now familiar feeling of being overwhelmed by all that needs to be put back in order, or is due to be seasonally revised for better functionality and overall domestic organization, has returned.

A sense of being clueless about the art of domestic organization and management, plus the tell-tale signs of fatigue starting, have all crept in to nag at me again.

Sometime ago I posted a post titled Clueless. You may have read it. In fact, it has proven to be one of the most read posts on this particular blog.

Maybe it was a post read by many that identified with what was shared. Perhaps for many that read it, that particular post created such an 'uh-huh' moment that they then sent the link onto a friend.

Perhaps it was a post that touched a sensitive nerve. Maybe it proved to be a blog post that put the common feeling of being overwhelmed out there, and it proved to be an online read which many a reader quietly nodded over with empathy and common understanding.

The reality is: for all the picture perfect organized homes out there on Pinterest and shining in stunning glorious-ness across the Internet........ there is just such a common sense of feeling clueless about domesticity by a really significant number of people around the world!

There is much offered online to spark us into action on the domestic front. We plough ahead to create more order, greater functional routines..... yet a significant number of us struggle with feeling overwhelmed several times over.

We feel somewhat overwhelmed repeatedly, to the point of feeling pursued by something like a snapping black dog. I know I do.

There is just so much available to spur us on, to direct and help us each take courage to make the most of the time, energy & resources available to us all! The pressure can and does at times feel immense.

If ONLY we tried this, bought that, persisted by pushing through somehow it would all MIRACULOUSLY work towards creating that utopia of a functioning, peaceful, orderly home-life experience. Yet a sense of being overwhelmed pesters many of us! Go figure!

The sense of feeling clueless about all things domestic comes to re-visit again and again.  Just like it's not so distant and equally unpleasant relative: Over-whelmed-ness, it comes again to align it's shoulder with ours.

As much as I see progress happening step-by-step, drawer-by-drawer, cupboard by cupboard, area by area, etc here in my neck-of-the-woods, a sense of feeling overwhelmed with regard to the pursuit of obtaining effective household logistics somehow casts a significant shadow every so often.

Feeling overwhelmed is hard.

Knowing it has knocked on my door again, somehow makes it doubly hard also.

Feeling overwhelmed, with it's jarring snappiness pestering at the heels, has made it unfortunately clear that feeling overwhelmed has rung the doorbell and stepped in to come to visit with me again for a while.

How to deal with feeling overwhelmed when it has come to reside?

That is the million dollar question it would seem.

It would be interesting to know how others push through and deal to this unpleasant companion when it returns to hound them somewhat also.

How do others deal with the black dog called Overwhelmed-ness, when it slinks back in, with something of a jarring snapping bark, to stop over and visit again?

How do you personally deal with it and journey through it? Particularly when it somehow seems to bite and bark somewhat more loudly when it has come to re-visit again?

Feeling overwhelmed. Again.

By all that beckons and visually states that the household logistics need further work......... Some answers are required.